Past Events
The War on Lebanon: History, Politics and Resistance
Thursday, 10/24/2024, 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Join IMES for a discussion of the deeper history and context of Lebanon's history of resistance to Israeli violence and its entwined struggle with the Palestinian people. The event will feature a discussion with the co-authors of MERIP's recent primer on Lebanon.
Promises, Then the Storm: Memory, US Politics, and the Israel-Gaza War
Wednesday, 10/23/2024, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
On the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Melani McAlister began to use her journal to track the rapid development of the conflict and the parallel evolution in the ways it was represented in the US media.
State Department Dissent: Gaza and Syria as Case Studies
Tuesday, 10/15/2024, 2:30pm - 4:00pm
Join the Middle East Policy Forum's discussion entitled “State Department DIssent: Gaza and Syria as Case Studies.” The event will take place on Tuesday, October 15 from 2:30-4 p.m. at the Elliott School of International Affairs, room 505.
The End of Ambition: America's Past, Present, and Future in the Middle East
Tuesday, 9/24/2024, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
In The End of Ambition, Steven Cook argues that while analysts are rightly concerned that engagement drains U.S. resources and distorts its domestic politics, the broader impulse to disengage tends to neglect important lessons from the past.
The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora
Friday, 9/20/2024, 11:15am - 12:45pm
War forced millions of Syrians from their homes. It also forced them to rethink the meaning of home itself. A tapestry of voices of displaced Syrians now on five continents, The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora shares their journeys through revolution, war, displacement, and self-discovery. As anti-migrant rhetoric intensifies across the world, these gripping stories challenge readers to grapple with refugees’ hard-earned wisdom about belonging and to see, with fresh eyes, what home means in their own lives.
The Threats of AI and Disinformation in Times of Global Crises
Wednesday, 5/29/2024, 11:00am - 12:30pm
Join IMES and Arab Center Washington DC on May 29th for this online panel discussion on The Threats of AI and Disinformation in Times of Global Crises.
Serving Arabic Language Students: Challenges and Opportunities
Thursday, 5/2/2024, 8:30am - 2:00pm
The Washington, DC Arabic Teachers Council invites you to our 2024 mini conference on challenges and opportunities in teaching Arabic language students. Three expert speakers will cover the topics of heritage language learners, inclusive approaches to teaching, and issues regarding AI and ChatGPT in the classroom. Dr. Kamilia Rahmouni, Teaching Assistant Professor in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and a member of the DC-ATC Advisory Board, will also present a keynote address on “Bridging Arabic Instruction from High School to Higher Education.” We hope to see you there!
Middle East Knowledge Production In the Aftermath of October 7 | 2024 IMES Annual Conference
Friday, 4/19/2024, 9:00am - 3:30pm
Join the Institute for Middle East Studies for our 2024 Annual Conference on April 19th. The Conference will feature panels on academic freedom in the age of precarity and censorship, decolonizing MES knowledge-production, and knowledge-production amidst dehumanization.
Global Reactions to the Partition of Palestine and the 1948 War | 2024 Max Ticktin Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, 4/17/2024, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Join the GW History Department and GW Judaic Studies Program for the 2024 Max Ticktin Lecture featuring Prof. David Penslar.
The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, The C.I.A, and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq
Tuesday, 4/16/2024, 1:30pm - 3:00pm
The Middle East Policy Forum and the Leadership, Ethics, and Practice Initiative at the Elliott School of International Affairs will host this conversation about Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll’s new book, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq. Coll has written the definitive story of the decades-long relationship between the United States and Saddam Hussein. It is a deeply researched and news-breaking investigation into how human error, cultural miscommunication, and hubris led to one of the costliest geopolitical conflicts of our time.
Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War
Thursday, 4/4/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
In 1948, a war broke out that would result in Israeli independence and the erasure of Arab Palestine. Over twenty months, thousands of Jews and Arabs came from all over the world to join those already on the ground to fight in the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces and the Arab Liberation Army.
The Digital Double Bind: Politics, Power and Platforms in the Middle East
Thursday, 3/21/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Join IMES and IPDGC for this lecture by Joe F. Khalil on his new book co-authored with Mohamed Zayani, The Digital Double Bind Change and Stasis in the Middle East.
Black Intifada: The Roots of Black and Palestinian Solidarity Movement
Wednesday, 3/20/2024, 1:00pm - 2:30pm
This talk will create a nuanced interdisciplinary context for the history of Black and Palestinian solidarity from the 1960s until the present day.
2024 Kuwait Chair Lecture: “1979: A Year that Changed the Middle East.”
Thursday, 3/7/2024, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
The Institute for Middle Eastern Studies and the Middle East Policy Forum cordially invite you to the 2024 Kuwait Chair Lecture, “1979: A Year that Changed the Middle East.” Ambassador (ret.) Gordon Gray hopes that you can join him, Kuwaiti Ambassador Al-Zain Al-Sabah, Elliott School Dean Dr. Alyssa Ayres, and other friends and colleagues for the luncheon and lecture.
Elastic Empire: Refashioning War through Aid in Palestine
Thursday, 2/29/2024, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
The United States integrated counterterrorism mandates into its aid flows in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the early years of the global war on terror. Some two decades later, this securitized model of aid has become normalized across donor intervention in Palestine. Elastic Empire traces how foreign aid, on which much of the Palestinian population is dependent, has multiplied the sites and means through which Palestinian life is regulated, surveilled, and policed—this book tells the story of how aid has also become war.
Viva Voce: Faculty Series- Dr. Arshad Ali
Tuesday, 2/27/2024, 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Viva Voce: Faculty Series was created to honor the importance of word-of-mouth storytelling that lies with the living voices, or viva voce. This month, we are honored to have Dr. Arshad Ali as our faculty Voice. Dr. Ali is an Associate Professor of Educational Research at GSEHD and works with colleges and universities, training students in bystander interventions, understanding the context of campus racial aggression, and how to address anti-Muslim racism and violence on campus. Please join us on Tuesday, Feb. 27th, from 1-2 pm in the MSSC for this amazing event!
Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria
Wednesday, 2/21/2024, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Join the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies and the Institute for Middle East Studies for the launch event for Amy Austin Holmes' new book Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria. This event is part of the Elliott School Book Launch Series.
Tensions in the Middle East: The War in Gaza, Iran, and the Houthis
Tuesday, 2/20/2024, 3:30pm - 5:00pm
As Israel's war in Gaza approaches its fifth month, fears of regional escalation are mounting as multiple nations target each other's territories in a series of escalatory strikes.
Politics in the Crevices: Urban Design and the Making of Property Markets in Cairo and Istanbul
Thursday, 2/15/2024, 12:30pm - 2:00pm
Sarah El-Kazaz takes readers into the world of urban planning and design practices in Istanbul and Cairo. In this transnational ethnography of neighborhoods undergoing contested rapid transformations, she reveals how the battle for housing has shifted away from traditional political arenas onto private crevices of the city.
Soldiers of Democracy? Military Legacies and the Arab Spring
Tuesday, 2/13/2024, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Sharan Grewal, author of Soldiers of Democracy? Military Legacies and the Arab Spring, will highlight how dictators’ choices to either empower or marginalize the military creates legacies that shape both the likelihood of democratization and the forms by which it breaks down.